PokerStars has gone mainstream. Historically, the brand has traded on its tight focus around all things poker – and only poker. It is a policy which has stood them well in the decade-and-a-half since they launched in 2001. It is estimated that PokerStars now has more than 50 million registered users worldwide. Following the merger with Full Tilt in 2012, it became the uncontested global leader in the field of online poker with a quite remarkable global market share in excess of 50% (according to pokerscout.com) with combined registrations amounting to 85 million.

The move to extend their offerings to include a PokerStars Casino and, more recently, a sports betting arm is an entirely logical attempt to leverage additional revenues from this enormous constituency.

November 2014 saw the first rollout of the casino project, with blackjack and roulette offerings put online, and a second phase of integration is to be delivered with the forthcoming provision of a branded online sports betting facility. The efficacy of these moves has already been rigorously road-tested in the brand?s Spanish .es domain as well as across the Full Tilt network.

On the Spanish PokerStars site, analysts found that up to 30% of registered players were regular casino players in addition to their existing poker outlay. Scaled up globally, the numbers quickly start to become eye watering.

The synergy between PokerStars? established offering and their current expansion looks a winner. At present, the timescale for the roll out of the sports book is being kept under wraps. Expect there to be a concerted and unmissable wave of publicity once they go live, but in the meantime they are keeping their cards typically close to their chest. They do, however, boast an enviable record in generating customer loyalty.

The precise mechanics of the deliver are, equally, not currently in the public domain. The degree of direct integration – or otherwise – with PokerStars? existing users remains to be seen. It would, however, be a major surprise if there were not a direct linkage of some sort – that being the fundamental rationale behind the move in the first place.

PokerStars delivered on its pledge to roll out casino gaming before the end of 2014 and it will surely not be long before we get to see just how they deliver their sports book. No doubt the mainstream competition are not looking forward to that point quite as eagerly as PokerStars? many millions of existing happy and loyal customers.